Newspaper Narratives
Panama Canal
Background
The Panama Canal, built from 1904 to 1914, is the key conduit for international maritime trade. It joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and faces an annual traffic from a thousand ships in the canal's early days to 14, 702 vessels currently.
Students will view several online newspapers and follow the permalinks embedded in each PowerPoint slide to learn about the Panama Canal and its significance and economic impact on surrounding regions.
They will learn the vocabulary using the "Text the Word" activity. They will use "The Panama Canal" and "A Letter Home," as well as other resources. Then, they will share their findings and engage in a final class discussion in order to understand the implications of the canal fully.
